Using the new algorithms, collectively called Stratus, the scientists were able to model a worldwide network of connected data centers and predict how to keep carbon emissions from cloud computing low while still performing the needed computing and data transfer.

The research team was inspired by Amazon’s Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) data center setup, IEEE says. EC2 considers three variables: carbon emissions, electricity cost, and time needed for computation and data transfer. By using Stratus, the scientists reduced the EC2 cloud’s emissions by 21 percent over a common commercial scheme for balancing computing loads.

3 thoughts on “How to Cut Cloud Computing’s Carbon Emissions”

The source of electricity used to power these cloud servers must be taken into account to calculate the emissions. Energy produced from coal fired power plants or natural gas will emit more CO2 than energy produced from hydro, nuclear, solar or wind. This must be taken into account in the formula or the results will not be accurate.